Back in May, before we went to Italy, I asked about the easiest way to get to Asolo, up near Venice. Well, turns out it can be dicey. The train gets you to Castelfranco, but to get to the bus that takes you up to Asolo is a fifteen minute walk from the station. Not a good idea with bags. Buses can take you to the city center, but NOT, apparently, from the station. Go figure. We found out only later that you take an underground passageway to the neighborhood behind the station if you want to bus to the center to get the bus that takes you to Asolo. Instead, we took a taxi (E20.00) up to the lower town of Asolo, then caught the bus (E1.00) that goes up to Asolo. On returning, we took two buses back to the center of Castelfranco, asked how to get to the train station and people were very helpful in telling us the bus, and how to find the underground passageway back to the train station. Asolo was nice enough, but without a car, it is a bit exhausting to get to.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
John: Thanks for letting us know how we did on that one, and what the best solution is. I just took a look at your original post - it may be that no one posting on that topic had done exactly what you were asking about.
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
You were this close to Crespano del Grappa - Folsom's Sister City! You could've been welcomed as a representative and had a fine time - maybe gotten the keys to the city, or a scepter or something ;-) I hope to see you next month - I think we're gonna have a bunch of trip reports LOL!
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, California, United States
253 posts
We were determined to get to Asolo via Castelfranco, but the information we gleaned from various sources prior to going was a bit lacking. For instance, the bus that goes up to Asolo from the lower town was advertised as being free. Only on Sundays. The taxi trip was a fair option considering we were kind of stuck otherwise, but you can see bus stops in front of the station and to find out none go to the center, which clearly was a transportation hub (I am talking about the actual castle area - beautiful castle, BTW) was strange. And after all of that, Asolo was - well - it was a nice enough place, but besides seeing two snakes intertwined in a mating dance at the cemetary, not much to see.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Well, at least you got to see something exciting in Asolo.
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, California, United States
253 posts
Yes, at least the snake ritual was interesting. The walking tour of the town took about two hour's total, but we found the most interesting part of the old castle there has been dismantled and moved to Florida. Clearly, THAT American tourist is not a Rick Steve's aficionado. We found one restaurant that was great, but I should add that the Saturday evening we spent in Asolo was pretty good. Asolo apparently is the "nightlife" hub of the region. While having a very small center piazza, it became packed with sporty convertibles at night, with traditional Italian guys with driving scarf's and their girlfriends with matching scarfs of their own. We found an outside café from which to observe the human equivalent of the snake ritual. The castle built by Caterina Cornaro still dominates the piazza and the town's namesake activity and contribution to the Italian language – asolari – certainly is still a part of the ambiance of the area. Caterina's famous court created one of our own favorite pastimes when travelling in Europe, the "Art of Doing Nothing".